TOPIC: Help please. Fuel line connection question

Good day:

I am trying to start my Mercury MK58A for the first time.
I cannot seem to get the fuel line to seat at the engine port. It will push in and seems to engage the two pins o either side but I cannot for the life of me get it to turn and lock into place. Am I doing something wrong?

Appreciate any advice you can offer.

I'm mot a Merc person but if you can't get it to work you can try disconnecting the male/female connectors and run the line from the tank directly to the inside fuel line. Just a suggestion.

It looks like the motor-side fuel connector (male) is buggered-up. Fortunately this is a common and readily-available part from Mercury. It's around $50 but there are tons of them on eBay for cheap:

https://www. ebay. com/ sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=mercury+fuel+22833+&_sacat=0&_sop=15

Just copy the address, paste into your browser's address bar, then take out the spaces. This site parses ebay links.

The slots in the tank fitting are supposed to line up with the two "tangs" on the motor-side fitting, you push in and twist as you surmised. But if the tangs on the male fitting are messed-up, not gonna work so well.

Depending on the condition of the male connector, it may have to be replaced, too. But these are available all over the place. Even Walmart carries an inexpensive version.

HTH.............ed

Thank you. Does the defective motor-side connecter just unscrew for me to replace it? Seems easy enough.

cyansky2 wrote: Thank you. Does the defective motor-side connecter just unscrew for me to replace it? Seems easy enough.

Yup, held in by 2 bolts. If you get one without the "guts", just unscrew the fuel fitting from the end of your old one, and the spring-loaded piece with O-ring comes right out. There are a number of good-looking used ones on eBay that come complete, and I saw one that even came with bolts.

Note that you'll end up unscrewing your fuel line & fitting anyway, and screwing it in to the replacement. This male fitting was used on tons of motors and some had an angled connection, some were straight. Doesn't matter, all the fittings were the same size threaded connection.

Ok. Thank you. I was actually at the local hardware store today and by chance found the male gas tank adapter. Replaced it and it works like a charm. The motor starts and runs. Now an embarrassing question: Where is the cooling water supposed to exit the motor from? See my attached picture. The red circle has only what appears to be hot fuel exhaust coming out of it. Does the hot water get expelled from under the waterline (my yellow circle)? I shut it down because I did not want to overheat. I know with my OMC engines, the water exits above the water line. Thanks for the help.

Combined water and exhaust should flow out of the red-circled exhaust relief port. There is actually a tell-tale on the left rear underside of the lower cowling, but typically the water passage to the telltale gets plugged up with salt/mineral deposits and you won't get any out of there.

But from what I see, you need to block-up your test barrel so the lower unit is farther into the water. It's not going to pump well (if at all) where you've got it. At least get it so the water level is up to the Dynafloat shock covers. This ensures that the water pump is fully flooded with water.

Then you'll also get enough exhaust back pressure for the water coming out of the block to be carried with exhaust out the exhaust relief.

The water intake on these is on the underside of the anti-ventilation plate, and there's a round, louvered, stainless "screen" over the intake.

BTW, the best way to tell if you're getting good water circulation thru the powerhead is to feel the exhaust manifold cover on the Port side of the engine block. Water circulates thru this cover, so if there isn't any water flow it'll get hot really fast. If it's staying fairly cool to the touch, up to lukewarm after running for quite some time, you're OK.

BTW if you don't know how long it's been since the impeller is replaced, or it's been a number of years since it's been done, might be a good idea to replace. These small pumps take quite a set to the impeller blades when sitting and you don't want the pump to go gunnysack and ruin the powerhead, while you're underway.

Thanks so much for your help. Blocked the test tank up and ran it at a low idle for about an hour. Purrs like a kitten. Water came out of the exhaust and the "telltale" shot out a steady stream. Thanks again!

cyansky2 wrote: Thanks so much for your help. Blocked the test tank up and ran it at a low idle for about an hour. Purrs like a kitten. Water came out of the exhaust and the "telltale" shot out a steady stream. Thanks again!

Sweet! That's a good thing that the telltale works, the powerhead water passages must be very clean.

These are great motors, many years ago I bought one off the shop bulletin board for $35. Cleaned the points and did a bit of other maint on it, bought a cheap old flat-bottom ski boat and skied the whole summer for Dirt Cheap. That old MK58A ran like a top!

Have Fun with yours.........ed